PLASTIC SURGERY

ANTI AGING

RHINOPLASTY

FILLER

BOTOX

SKIN CARE

MEDIA

HEALTHY LIVING

The question here is on the type of rhinoplasty and the type of LASER. Soon after a rhinoplasty, LASER resurfacing procedures (i.e. C02 laser, Erbium laser, Fractionated C02 laser) must be performed with caution as the skin takes some time to revascularize. In some cases, patients must wait 6 months or longer to receive some type of LASER procedures. Lasers used to target blood vessels can be utilized earlier with conservative settings. It is best to speak to your surgeon to help determine a timetable that maximizes the risk to benefit ratio.

Human beings have always been keenly aware of our physical appearance. When we get ready in the morning we see ourselves in the mirror. In modern times with digital media, we see ourselves in other angles then we normally did, including "selfies". In Ancient Roman times, many influential Romans would create either a bust or statue of themselves. When comissioning a bust, many of the sculptures would actually look quite different than their subjects.

Archealogists have pieced together various pieces of information, including images on coins which may have been minted when the ruler was alive. Just as a photographer's role is to capture a person's best angles, a sculptor's best interests were to make his subject look as attractive as possible. In many ways, these sculptors performed "plastic surgery" on their subjects as men and women's physiques were often enhanced and faces were made to look more ideal than accurate.

Image for an influential Roman was important. Romans needed to portray handsomeness and authoriativeness and physical flaws may have made viewers of the sculptor to have less admiration of these rulers.

While many centuries have passed and technology has evolved, one consistent aspect about ourselves is that our physical appearance was important to us then as it is now.

On Dr. Anil Shah's bookshelf, you will see a black leather medical house call bag with the intials RH Shah. These intials are those of his now deceased father, Dr. Rajendra H. Shah, who was a physician. Dr. Anil Shah was influenced by his father not just in his pursuit of medicine, but in the way he practiced medicine.

Both Dr. Shah's did their fellowships at Ivy League destinations on the East Coast, with Dr. Anil Shah finishing a fellowship in Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at Cornell and his father at Yale University in Gasteronterology. Dr. Rajendra Shah practiced in a relatively small town and took time to know his patients and which was somewhat uncommon make the occasional house call with his doctor satchel. Dr. Anil Shah takes pride in knowing the lives of his patients, not just as a physician, and for some post operative patients he does make the occasional house call. Dr. Rajendra Shah often came home with a pie or jelly or some other sign of gratitude from a patient telling him thank you. Dr. Anil Shah similarily will often receive baked goods and terms of endearment from his patients.

Dr. Rajendra Shah's life was rich not in just his family but his love for his patients, many of which he knew for many years. His medical satchel may look a relic from medicine from years past, but it is a reminder that medicine is that combination of art, science, and is an intimately personal relationship between physicians and their patients.

Recently a study in Stem Cell Reports has described a process to make skin cells called keratinocytes. The ablity to make skin cells in a laboratory makes the need for animal testing less likely in the future. Some skin cell drugs and cosmetics test on animals prior to testing on humans. This has obvious potential benefits including saving animal lives and cost effective models to help determine safety and efficacy of skin therapies.